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@portelafamily one month of performance can't prove any point.
— keithlaw (@keithlaw) May 18, 2013
Of course, the above Tweet, sent out by Keith Law during the course of a discussion about Paul Goldschmidt, has some truth. But how about 12 months of performance? For what Law completely fails to address is that Paul Goldschmidt has been performing at the highest level for an awful lot longer than Law thinks. In fact, let's pull up the major-league stats for all hitters, going back from May 19 through last night's game, where Goldschmidt went 4-for-5 with two home-runs and a double. Over that year, among qualifying batters (502 PA), where do you think Goldschmidt ranks in major-league hitters? Top 50? Top 30? Top 15?
Keep going. Here's the list.
Rk | Tm | G | PA | AB | R | H | HR | RBI | BB | SO | |||||
1 | Miguel Cabrera | Detroit | 163 | 718 | 633 | 120 | 220 | 44 | 148 | 75 | 98 | .348 | .416 | .632 | 1.048 |
2 | Joey Votto | Cincinnati | 116 | 509 | 406 | 66 | 138 | 13 | 49 | 94 | 93 | .340 | .470 | .530 | .999 |
3 | Ryan Braun* | Milwaukee | 154 | 678 | 599 | 105 | 193 | 39 | 117 | 70 | 133 | .322 | .397 | .591 | .988 |
4 | Buster Posey | SF | 154 | 633 | 537 | 82 | 179 | 26 | 115 | 79 | 90 | .333 | .415 | .568 | .983 |
5 | Aramis Ramirez | Milwaukee | 127 | 529 | 481 | 72 | 156 | 28 | 98 | 35 | 68 | .324 | .382 | .595 | .976 |
6 | Prince Fielder | Detroit | 164 | 710 | 585 | 82 | 180 | 33 | 120 | 99 | 92 | .308 | .421 | .542 | .963 |
7 | Paul Goldschmidt | Arizona | 154 | 646 | 557 | 100 | 173 | 30 | 101 | 72 | 137 | .311 | .388 | .562 | .950 |
8 | Mike Trout | Anaheim | 164 | 761 | 665 | 145 | 210 | 35 | 104 | 81 | 155 | .316 | .392 | .558 | .949 |
9 | Robinson Cano | NY Yankees |
165 | 715 | 647 | 106 | 200 | 40 | 106 | 60 | 102 | .309 | .373 | .566 | .939 |
10 | Aaron Hill | Arizona | 128 | 555 | 508 | 81 | 162 | 23 | 77 | 41 | 60 | .319 | .372 | .553 | .925 |
11 | Andrew McCutchen | Pittsburgh | 163 | 701 | 620 | 114 | 192 | 32 | 103 | 73 | 126 | .310 | .384 | .532 | .916 |
12 | Joe Mauer | Minnesota | 146 | 647 | 555 | 90 | 189 | 11 | 82 | 87 | 108 | .341 | .429 | .481 | .910 |
13 | Adrian Beltre | Texas | 163 | 691 | 637 | 101 | 199 | 38 | 105 | 43 | 86 | .312 | .356 | .551 | .907 |
14 | Edwin Encarnacion | Toronto | 154 | 658 | 551 | 93 | 150 | 40 | 106 | 90 | 92 | .272 | .381 | .525 | .906 |
15 | Alex Rios | Chicago | 160 | 657 | 621 | 109 | 192 | 34 | 99 | 32 | 99 | .309 | .342 | .557 | .900 |
16 | Albert Pujols | Anaheim | 157 | 694 | 614 | 93 | 179 | 34 | 112 | 64 | 79 | .292 | .359 | .539 | .898 |
17 | Chris Davis | Baltimore | 145 | 594 | 529 | 82 | 146 | 39 | 109 | 52 | 173 | .276 | .347 | .550 | .897 |
18 | Carlos Gonzalez | Colorado | 141 | 602 | 534 | 96 | 162 | 25 | 79 | 62 | 126 | .303 | .374 | .522 | .896 |
19 | Chase Headley | San Diego | 149 | 652 | 568 | 84 | 168 | 30 | 108 | 72 | 144 | .296 | .379 | .514 | .893 |
20 | Shin-Soo Choo | Cle/Cin | 164 | 739 | 630 | 105 | 186 | 23 | 72 | 86 | 156 | .295 | .397 | .483 | .880 |
Yep. Over the past year, Goldschmidt's offensive production, by OPS, is 7th best in all of major-league baseball, nestling just behind Prince Fielder, with four of the six above him having MVP trophies on their mantelpiece. Sure, Goldzilla has been incandescent of late - his May line is 440 /.492/.980, and no-one expects him to continue at that rate. But Law's claim just cannot be sustained, that Goldschmidt has only a single month of decent production on which he can be judged. You can't even say he's a product of Chase - as we've noted before, Goldschmidt hits 190 OPS points better on the road in his career.
The bottom line is, Paul Goldschmidt has been hitting at the level of an elite player over a full year, not the "one month" Law alleges. The pundit still refuses to acknowledge how completely wrong he was about the player, but at this point, each home-run creates another shell-hole in Law's credibility on the matter - and there are people who are not slow to remind him of it, with the same degree of snark which he dishes out. I look forward to Goldie's Hall of Fame induction speech, starting off with a thank-you to Keith Law. :)
And even if he does admit defeat on this one... Well, we'll always have Didi:
Yes. They sold very low on Bauer. RT @harrisonc_92: @keithlaw Do you still hate the Bauer/Gregorius trade for the D-Backs?
— keithlaw (@keithlaw) May 13, 2013
Oh, Keith...
Couple of random thoughts from me on the rest of the list. Would you have had Aramis Ramirez up there with the big boys? And Goldschmidt isn't the only Diamondback in the top ten, with Aaron Hill also fitting in there. Gives you some idea of what an impact player he has been for us - and with all due respect to Cliff Pennington and Josh Wilson, explains why Diamondback fans can't wait to get Hill back.